Here's a few updated pics. Went to the Lake of the Ozarks today. Got severely skunked. Not even a bump. I fished the the main lake until lunch and went below Bagnell Dam in the afternoon. Nothing! I think a front coming in had things messed up. Oh well, got in some much needed peddle time.

The trailer I am working on is similar to yours but has the kayak sitting about 4-5 inches higher than yours. I will require some fabrication to make it any lower. Do you think that it will make launching and loading more difficult? I realize that the angle of the ramp come into play too. I have a winch too. My thought is that as long as I can get the nose started on the pipes pretty good the winch will pull it the rest of the way. I am also considering puting 45 degree fittings on the rear end to aid in loading. Thoughts?

_________________It's not the heat it's the humility!!!Hobie Pro Angler

I don't think your pipes being that high will hurt you. You might have back down the ramp an extra foot or so, like you said it just depends on the ramp. As far as the 45 degree fittings on the back, I don't think they'd even come into play unless you were just barely submerging the back of the pipes and nothing else. If you back your trailer in far enough the yak wont even make contact with the back of the pipes until you pull out. Backing in farther also gives you a little more room for error as you are loading. If you are just barely submerging the pipes, you'd have to hit them dead on and your yak would be a long way from you making it even harder. Pulling or winching the yak up to front would be harder too. Long story short, the more of the yak you can keep floating the easier it is to make adjustments and move things around.

I don't think your pipes being that high will hurt you. You might have back down the ramp an extra foot or so, like you said it just depends on the ramp. As far as the 45 degree fittings on the back, I don't think they'd even come into play unless you were just barely submerging the back of the pipes and nothing else. If you back your trailer in far enough the yak wont even make contact with the back of the pipes until you pull out. Backing in farther also gives you a little more room for error as you are loading. If you are just barely submerging the pipes, you'd have to hit them dead on and your yak would be a long way from you making it even harder. Pulling or winching the yak up to front would be harder too. Long story short, the more of the yak you can keep floating the easier it is to make adjustments and move things around.

Carl

How far is your back truck wheels from the edge of the water in your loading photos? How big are your tires? Mine are 12".

Thanks for all the help...

Also, what is the length of your trailer from the lights to the hitch? Mine is 12.5'. The distance from the floor to the top of my pvc as I have it now is 30'.

I am confident it will tow fine, I just have not had it to a ramp to try.

Doing some reading some sites say a good boat ramp should be between 12 and 15% slope. I just wonder if I will have enough trailer in the water to get those pvc bunks at least half under? Otherwise I am going to have to find a different way to mount. Here is what I have so far...it may need to change. I have not boltede on the front yet.

Here is what I got it as...

So I turned the bunk brackets the other way and put new boards on....

_________________It's not the heat it's the humility!!!Hobie Pro Angler

In the photos the ball of my hitch is about even with the water. So that would put the back tires of my truck a few feet away. The tires on my trailer are 13's. The length of my trailer is 13' 3". Distance from floor to PVC is 27".

The biggest thing I can see is it looks like you've cut at least a couple of feet off of the tongue length. I understand this was probably for storage reasons but now you have to back your trailer that much further into the water to make up for the lost trailer length. Your tires are one size smaller than mine so that will help a little. If you could eliminate the height of the boards the pipes are on then you should be okay.

Go to youtube and search MOfishyaker. There you will find a detailed video of my trailer. I built it specifically for the PA. All I could afford at the time was an Ocean Kayak so that's what you will see on it. In the video I cover a product called Unistrut. You can pick this up at electrical supply warehouses (got mine through Butler Supply locally but other places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. might also have it (FYI it is a bit pricey). My pipe is attached directly to the Unistrut. You'll see this system is very clean, fully adjustable, and will lower the height of your pipes significantly. Good Luck!!

I bought the trailer that lenght, but you can tell that years ago it was possibly a tilting trailed, but the tongue has been welded tight.

Notice the metal board that runs just left of the center line from back to front of the frame. It is like a walking platform that is welded to each crossbar of the frame. This surely makes the frame more ridgid, but it costs me an inch in putting down the unistrut. I dont weld, I have to get that done for me, but I think if I go unistrut I am going to have to remove or have removed to get me flat all the way across for the unistrut.

This is an old trailer that I am in too far with not to go ahead and completely restore. Eventually I will get new leaf springs, brackets and fenders but right now considering a kayak is not that heavy they are fine.

_________________It's not the heat it's the humility!!!Hobie Pro Angler